Health Behavior Theory and Its Applications

Topic: Healthcare Research
Words: 288 Pages: 1

Health care is complex, and it requires different degrees of inputs from patients and clinical workers to achieve the desired regimens of medication. These treatment procedures include behaviors such as physical activity, taking a balanced diet, and completing prescription drugs. Various Health Behavior Theories (HBTs), including the Health Belief Model (HBM), Subjective Expected Utility Theory (SEUT), and the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) have been formulated to emphasize wellness conducts (Rejeski & Fanning, 2019). For example, the HBM was developed to inform researchers on tuberculosis screening (Rejeski & Fanning, 2019). The seriousness of an infection and an individual’s vulnerability to it influence their perceptions of threats of such diseases.

I concur with the principles of these theories because wellness is the most valuable aspect of human life, and they emphasize health promotion efforts. Using a wide range of efforts in their endeavors, HBT theorists inform policy, environmental, individual, and setting changes to attain optimal health in society. For example, the SCT is helpful in supporting self-regulation over feelings, emotions, and thoughts for psychological wellness, while HBM manifests itself when an individual takes prescription drugs to prevent cardiovascular diseases (Rejeski & Fanning, 2019). This knowledge enables me to advocate for behavior change across a person’s lifespan, for example, advising people on healthy aging, as well as injury and teenage pregnancy prevention.

In my nursing practice, I use every interaction with clients to promote health because I have learned various educational interventions over the years. For example, I discuss diabetic management and blood sugar testing whenever I am dressing foot ulcers in diabetic patients. The clients who adhere to self-management procedures demonstrate better health outcomes than their counterparts do because their emergency and hospital visits have decreased since we started interacting.

Reference

Rejeski, W. J., & Fanning, J. (2019). Models and theories of health behavior and clinical interventions in aging: A contemporary, integrative approach. Clinical Interventions in Aging, 14, 1007-1019.

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